Kentucky Bourbon Trail & Mary Todd Lincoln Home

We had a great time recently when we hit the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and visited the Mary Todd Lincoln home - it's full of antique furniture!

It all started when our nephew, Matthew, came and stayed with us for about 10 days this summer. He spent a good deal of time hanging out with Greg and learning to fix computers and cell phones. We drove him back to Columbus, Ohio, and then took a few days making our way home as a summer vacation.

Greg is a huge baseball fan. One of his bucket list items is to see a game in every national stadium, so of course, we stopped in Cincinnati at the Great American Ballpark to catch a Reds game.

We drove on to Lexington, Kentucky, to hit the Kentucky Bourbon Trail! Greg and I love small batch bourbons and are on a quest to find our favorites.  This is our second trip along the Kentucky Bourbon trail, as we visited the Maker’s Mark distillery several years ago.

This time we stopped at Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey, Buffalo Trace and Willet Distillery. It is very interesting to tour the production facilities and see how each business operates.

Even better, we get to experience the tastings at the end of the tour!  So far my absolute favorite is Basil Hayden, with Maker’s Mark a close second. Greg really likes Wild Turkey 101 and Maker’s Mark, but he says he still has many yet to try before he can call a winner.

We also toured the Mary Todd Lincoln House. It was the first house museum site restored purely to honor a First Lady and it is filled with beautiful antique furniture. This is the dining room. I actually never knew that Mary Todd came from a very wealthy and politically connected family before she married Abraham Lincoln, so it was fascinating to see her childhood home.

This is the Mary Todd Lincoln House parlor. The house was originally built in 1803 as an inn, before it became a private home in 1832. I always love a good historic home museum, and I can highly recommend this one if you’re in Lexington, Kentucky. I found it on Trip Advisor, my favorite travel mobile app.

Finally, we stopped at the Sanders Cafe in Corbin, Kentucky, home to Colonel Sanders and Kentucky Fried Chicken!

You can actually see the original kitchen where the Colonel worked out his original recipe, and of course you can eat lunch there.

Entrepreneurship is near and dear to my heart, and Colonel Sanders is one of my business heroes, so I greatly enjoyed this stop.

I admire that Colonel Sanders never gave up. He didn’t actually make his fortune until later in life, years after he sold his original cafe, hotel, and gas station in order to break even with his debts.

It was a fascinating end to a short but sweet summer vacation!

Where have you been traveling to this summer? Have you hit any historic sites? Tell us in the comments... we'd love to hear about it!